Happy 2011! Freebies, news, links and lots more for you.

A most happy new year to everyone!  Here is to the best year ever, filled with all sorts of paper crafting goodness.  Given that this is a new year, I wanted to make some modifications to the blog, not big changes, but hopefully changes you will find useful. One change you will notice right away is that I am going back to posting on Monday which just seems to work best for my schedule.

Given that I am working full time I have had to resign from my DT position on Susana's Custom Art and Card Design.  This year I think that instead of being on any DT's I am going to try to submit some of my work to magazines, as well as work on my scrapbooking a bit more.  Don't forget that I will be teaching scrapbook classes in San Jose, and should also be getting some Copic Coloring classes together soon, stay tuned.

First of all, if you can please take a moment to visit my new Facebook page, click here and "like" the page.  I will be trying to post there more then once a week, mainly featuring inspiring blogs/work from paper crafters. The facebook page will also be the place where I post sales and special deals that come up in between my postings here on the blog.  Right now you will find links to two blogs that had some amazing work.

Please feel free to share the page with any of your friends.  Also:  I will be getting rid of the other facebook account for AfterHoursStamper, just never had enough time to sign in under that account, and why I created the page for AfterHoursStamper, just much easier to update and manage.

Over the holidays we visited my husband's Uncle who lives in Calistoga, CA (wine country, near Napa), and I took some pictures of some carvings that his wife had done (she is no longer carving, which is too bad because her work is amazing):

From 2011-01-02

From 2011-01-02

From 2011-01-02

And here is Mimi, the artist:

From 2011-01-02

And now, onto the first links for 2011!  After almost three years one would think that everything possible has been linked to, but as I found out yesterday, there is so much out there to find, see, enjoy, learn from, be inspired by and just have fun with.

The links today have no special theme, just what I was finding as I surfed around yesterday, hope you enjoy them.

Winter CHA 2011 Sneak Peaks:  The page is finally up, and more companies will be putting their information on the linked page so make sure to visit there often.  I will also feature some of the more interesting products/information when more links are added to the page.

Kindred Creations:  Good deals here on the Daily Deals page, (this is a store in Idaho Falls, ID).  There are also a number of pages for "freebies," here is the link to the digital freebies, click around the site for more freebies : )

Masterful Scrapbook Design: This is a site that you can subscribe to for $10 a month, you can join at any time as well as cancel at any time.  There are lots and lots of great designers who provide fantastic inspiration and scrapbook design elements.  If you are a scrapbooker, or if you have a friend who is one, this might be a nice gift (to yourself or a friend).

Colour Lovers:  WOW!  There is just an amazing amount of information here, and tools.  You can go to "trends" and pick "craft" to see some of the latest color trends for crafting (and all sorts of other categories as well.)  There is also a nice color tool to help you pick colors for your projects.

PaperCraft Connection:  The blog that goes with the PaperCraft magazine.  Very nice layout and some fantastic inspiration here, as well as information on sending your projects in for publication and lots more.

A Little Hut:  Wonderful blog from a graphic designer, the link to the left takes you to some free downloads, here is the link to her home page, be ready for some major inspiration.

Five Free Digital Magazines:  From Cards magazine to Scrapbook Trends, something for everyone!  You will be asked to enter your email, and then you have full access to the digital versions of the magazines.

Craft Gossip:  I have linked to them before, but you can never have too much of a good thing.  If you haven't bookmarked their site, do so for 2011.  The blog always has links to sales, new tutorials, freebies (where I found the link for the magazines) and more.

Hope that you enjoyed the links today, next week perhaps a bit of what you plan on doing this year with your crafting (my resolution is to try to craft each day, which means I need to move away from the computer : )

Thanks for visiting, and don't forget to "like" the AfterHoursStamper page on Facebook.